It is conventional in V-type internal combustion engines to provide a cylinder block having walls defining two V arranged banks of cylinders with a valley between the banks and a crank chamber below. Pistons are provided in the cylinders which have skirts engaging the cylinder walls, the pistons being connected with a crankshaft for reciprocation in the cylinders. The cylinders are commonly provided with valves controlling access to the combustion chambers and with means for actuating the valves that are engageable with the cams of a camshaft longitudinally arranged in the valley between the banks and driven by the crankshaft. Further, it is usual to provide a pressure lubrication system through which lubricating oil is delivered from an oil sump below the engine crank chamber to the moving parts of various components of the valve actuating means, the excess oil being directed back to the sump, at least in part, through an open passageway through the valley between the cylinder banks, running along the walls thereof before dropping through the crank chamber to the oil sump.
In engines of the type described above, some means either specially provided or inherently existing are relied upon for lubrication of the camshaft cams which actuate the valve mechanism and for lubrication of the cylinder walls and piston skirts which reciprocate within the cylinders in engagement with the walls. In some cases, lubrication of these components is adequately taken care of by the throw off or splash of oil from rotation of the engine crankshaft and the mechanism attached thereto. In other cases, separate pressure lubricating devices have been provided for spraying oil onto the camshaft cams and the cylinder walls or the piston skirts in order to provide adequate lubrication to these parts. The provision of such additional lubricating means generally adds to the cost of manufacture of an engine and is therefore resorted to only in cases where adequate lubrication is not provided by the crankshaft throw off and splash oil distributed within the engine crank chamber and commonly penetrating upwardly into the cylinder bank valley.